A purely hypothetical question:
You participate in a relatively big chess open tournament (90 participants+); swiss system pairing, 9 rounds. In this tournament there also is a player who obviously suffers from Tourette syndrome including coprolalia and nervous tics.
You have found him to be a nuisance and very detrimental to your concentration, whenever you have been seated in his vicinity. Just as your luck would have it, in round 8 you get paired against him.
You do not want to lose the game by non-appearance, because you still have a decent chance for a category price and besides you've paid the entrance fee and accommodation and so you want to play your full nine rounds.
So far nobody has complained about this guy, and you don't want to be the first to do so. After all we live in an age of political correctness and anything you say or do would make you unpopular with the leftists who now control our society.
How will you deal with this situation?
PS: This is based on a true experience. I once played in a 9-round swiss where one player seemed to be suffering from symptoms as described above, though quite possible it may have been something other than Tourette syndrome. He was constantly murmuring, even loudly talking to himself in an aggressive tone and had tics. Fortunately I did not have to play against him, but for two rounds I was seated in his relative vicinity and had problems concentrating on my games. I was astonished that he was allowed to participate in a serious tournament (B-group, <2000 Elo) and that nobody said anything about it.
I am not against integrating handicapped, mentally challenged and other "special needs" persons into society as far as reasonably possible. But there certainly has to be drawn a line where this integration conflicts with the interests of many other people. Should 90 tournament players be forced to put up with this nuisance just so one person is not excluded from the tournament?
What are your thoughts about this situation?
You participate in a relatively big chess open tournament (90 participants+); swiss system pairing, 9 rounds. In this tournament there also is a player who obviously suffers from Tourette syndrome including coprolalia and nervous tics.
You have found him to be a nuisance and very detrimental to your concentration, whenever you have been seated in his vicinity. Just as your luck would have it, in round 8 you get paired against him.
You do not want to lose the game by non-appearance, because you still have a decent chance for a category price and besides you've paid the entrance fee and accommodation and so you want to play your full nine rounds.
So far nobody has complained about this guy, and you don't want to be the first to do so. After all we live in an age of political correctness and anything you say or do would make you unpopular with the leftists who now control our society.
How will you deal with this situation?
PS: This is based on a true experience. I once played in a 9-round swiss where one player seemed to be suffering from symptoms as described above, though quite possible it may have been something other than Tourette syndrome. He was constantly murmuring, even loudly talking to himself in an aggressive tone and had tics. Fortunately I did not have to play against him, but for two rounds I was seated in his relative vicinity and had problems concentrating on my games. I was astonished that he was allowed to participate in a serious tournament (B-group, <2000 Elo) and that nobody said anything about it.
I am not against integrating handicapped, mentally challenged and other "special needs" persons into society as far as reasonably possible. But there certainly has to be drawn a line where this integration conflicts with the interests of many other people. Should 90 tournament players be forced to put up with this nuisance just so one person is not excluded from the tournament?
What are your thoughts about this situation?